Ramagiri Ashram, established by Eknath Easwaran
Announcement: Virtual Satsang Opportunity
Join us for a bonus virtual satsang! Please choose a passage from God Makes the Rivers to Flow or from our website that speaks to you about building your will. We’ll have a virtual satsang session to share these passages aloud, followed by 30 minutes of passage meditation on Saturday, September 1 at 11:00 a.m. - 12:15p.m., San Francisco time.
This week, we’ll look at Putting Others First, one of the more nuanced of the eight points. How you put one person first is not necessarily how you will put the next person first – and it will even vary with the same person from situation to situation.
You may already be Putting Others First in many ways. This week, see if you can take the opportunity to do one focused selfless act. Perhaps you can help a friend or family member with a physical project in the yard or garden. Or maybe, you’ll take some time to write the mantram for someone going through a difficult time. Decide what is right for you. Give it a try, reflect on the experience, and let us know how it went!
Reading Study
In the following excerpt, Easwaran reminds us that our true nature is selfless, and that meditation can free us from self-will to use our inner resources for the benefit of others. Have you tasted the benefits of setting aside your self-will by Putting Others First in the context of your personal relationships? We’d love to hear from you.
This is an excerpt from The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living, Volume 1 by Easwaran.
28. This infinite joy of union with the Lord is easily attained by those who are free from the burden of self-will and established within themselves.
It is wise to remind ourselves that our real Self is absolutely pure; in our natural state we are untainted by any selfish desires, completely free of self-will. Anger, fear, greed, lust, malice – these are all unnatural states that we have come to accept as natural. Today we are imprisoned by our passions and cravings, but through the practice of meditation we can break off these shackles and live freely like the eagle soaring in the air.
Several days ago at Ramagiri I watched six baby swallows learn how to fly. They were seated on the telephone wires observing the mother bird, who came flying slowly in front of them, doing the easier turns and showing them the basics of flying. There was no point in telling these baby swallows to read books or attend lectures on how to fly; they have an inborn instinct for flying. They learn the skills of flight by watching their mother, who was showing her babies that there was no need to sit there quaking as if they were going to fall. Learning to fly may not be easy, but this is what birds are born to do. This was the lesson she taught her little ones.
Likewise, Sri Krishna sees us sitting on a perch made of pleasure, profit, power, or prestige, quaking with every variation in our bank account and every critical comment that comes our way, and he asks us if we would not rather forget our failings, weaknesses, and insecurities and become united with him. This is what we are born to do: to turn our back on our selfish interests and give all our love to the Lord, so that all the faculties and resources which have been hidden in us can come into our lives to the great benefit of those around us. Then we will no longer be acting; the Lord will take hold of our arms and act through us.